Electrostatic spray systems apply powder paints and coatings to a variety of products including, for example, appliances, automotive components, metal office furniture/storage shelving, electrical transformers, and recreational equipment. A critical component of such spray systems is a spray gun and a spray gun controller. The spray gun and the spray gun controller are responsible for generating a corona-charging effect that is the basis of electrostatic spray systems.
In corona-charging systems, the power supply charges the gun electrode to a high voltage which produces an electric field between the spray gun and a part to be painted. Powder is sprayed through the area of the electric field. Passing through this area, the powder particles are charged and are drawn to the usually grounded part to be painted. In this manner, the part to be painted is coated with powder paint.
In a typical powder spray system, the various spray gun controllers are mounted in racks within an overall enclosure. Although such an arrangement is acceptable in many applications, it is not particularly space efficient. Moreover, electronic controllers are by design able to control the operations of a large number of guns in more complex spraying systems. A master controller can now be used in combination with a substantial number of spray controllers, but a conventional rack design simply takes too much space and makes repairs more time consuming. The various tubes and wires may be routed in rather convoluted and lengthy runs making maintenance and operation somewhat cumbersome.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide improved powder spray systems that incorporate a number of powder spray controllers and a master controller into a single, smaller and compact support unit. Preferably, the support unit should include expansion capability as a system is expanded.